Tag: economic development

Apr 26

2021

Spiraling costs at remote industrial park

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The bill is coming due for putting an industrial park in the hinterlands of Genesee County and the cost to taxpayers is considerable. The Science and Technology Advanced Manufacturing Park, being built on 1,250 acres in the rural Town of Alabama, flunked the state’s smart growth test when first proposed.  The project’s location rated so poorly that it failed to meet seven of ten smart growth criteria under the state’s own grading system, prompting one good government group to label it a “poster child for location inefficiency.” Empire State Development Corp. nevertheless approved spending state tax dollars to develop the[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Mar 26

2021

Big tax break approved for Plug Power

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Economic development officials in Genesee County on Thursday approved a huge tax break for a company that plans on building a hydrogen power plant.  Plug Power would pay reduced property and sales taxes over 20 years that would save the company $118 million. The plant, located in what is now a vacant industrial park in the Town of Alabama, would employ 68 workers. The tax breaks were unanimously approved without discussion by the governing board of the Genesee County Economic Development Center.  The project still requires approval by the board of the New York Power Authority. Plans call for the[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Mar 24

2021

Heaney discusses subsidies on ‘Pressroom

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Investigative Post reported last week that the subsidy package offered Plug Power to build a plant in Genesee County amounts to $4 million a job. That story follows previous reporting by Mark Scheer, found here and here, on efforts to recruit companies to locate to the Science, Technology and Advanced Manufacturing Park in the Town of Alabama. Jim Heaney discussed Investigative Post’s coverage with David Lombardo of The Capitol Pressroom.  

Posted 3 years ago

Mar 17

2021

The mother of all subsidy deals

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At a cost of $4 million per job, the subsidy deal designed to bring the first tenant to a vacant industrial park in rural Genesee County would be the richest in Western New York history.  Plug Power is in line for an estimated $269.5 million in tax breaks and power discounts in exchange for building a plant that would create 68 jobs.  The cost per job dwarfs other local subsidy deals. Subsidies for a data center built nearly a decade ago in Lockport worked out to more than $2 million a job. Government money invested in the Tesla solar plant[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Mar 1

2021

Scheer discusses downtown impact on WBEN

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Mark Scheer reported last week on the pandemic’s impact on downtown Buffalo. One-third of the workforce is working remotely, which has starved restaurants, bars and other retailers for business. Experts say downtowns, here and elsewhere, are likely to be less office-centric once the pandemic eases. Mark spoke Monday with Susan Rose and Brian Mazurowski on NewsRadio 930WBEN.  

Posted 3 years ago

Feb 24

2021

Pandemic has hollowed out downtown Buffalo

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Empty offices. Empty restaurants. Empty parking ramps. Empty downtown. “I’ve never seen downtown Buffalo so empty in all the years I’ve been here,” said Mike Schmand, executive director of Buffalo Place, who has worked for the organization since 1982.  The numbers are bleak.  Schmand estimates one-third of the downtown workforce is working remotely. Metro Rail trips have declined by 35 percent. Revenue at city parking facilities has dropped 39 percent over the final six months of 2020 and is expected to remain below pre-COVID levels through at least the first half of this year.  Widespread vaccinations may offer a fresh[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Feb 12

2021

Scheer discusses Samsung project on WBEN

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Mark Scheer reported this week that Samsung is unlikely to build a plant in Western New York and the proposed location is a remote industrial park in Genesee County that lacks basic infrastructure. Mark spoke Friday with Susan Rose on NewsRadio 930WBEN.  

Posted 3 years ago

Feb 11

2021

Another Buffalo Billion boondoggle

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Economic development officials in Genesee County have spent more than $26 million on a massive industrial park in an “if you build it, they will come” gambit. So far, no one has come. The Genesee County Center for Economic Development not only doesn’t have any business deals to show for its decade of work, the industrial park consists of little more than empty fields.  There’s no infrastructure, aside from a six-tenths-of-a-mile road. No water service. No sewer lines. No electricity. No telecommunications. The agency has nevertheless managed to spend $26.8 million dollars, including some $13 million in Buffalo Billion funds.[...]

Posted 3 years ago
Investigative Post

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